Life Span Adult Faces: Norms for Age, Familiarity, Memorability, Mood, and Picture Quality

Abstract

Because faces are frequently used as stimuli in cognitive aging behavioral and neuroimaging studies, there is a need for a normed set of pictures reflecting age and ethnic diversity. Minear and Park (2004, Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 630–633) provided a large database of face pictures from average, ethnically diverse individuals across the adult life span. The current study evaluated 180 pictures from that database. One hundred and eight participants (mean age 23) rated each picture on specific attributes: perceived age, familiarity of appearance, mood, memorability, and image quality. Because the pictures did not differ in any of the measured attributes, the authors provide three balanced sets of face stimuli to researchers desiring normed face stimuli free from age confounds.

The current address of Kristen M. Kennedy is Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA.

This study was supported in part by a grant (R37 AG-11230) from National Institutes of Health. The authors thank Denise Park for the use of her database of face stimuli.

Notes

Note. Age was rated on an 8-point scale. Familiarity, mood, picture quality, and memorability were rated on a 5-point scale. SE = standard error of the mean; 95% CI = upper and lower confidence interval limits.